The present disclosure relates to a padlock having a lock body and a hoop which is movable between an open position and a closed position with respect to the lock body, with the lock body having an outer housing and a latching mechanism in the outer housing for the latching of the hoop in the closed position.
The hoop is non-releasably connected to the lock body in such a padlock. In the unlatched state, the hoop can, however, be moved between the open position and the closed position. In the closed position, the hoop and the lock body together form a closed loop, for example to secure two chain links to one another. The hoop can be latched in the closed position by means of the latching mechanism to prevent an unauthorized opening. The latching mechanism typically includes a lock cylinder which is rotatably actuated by means of a matching key. The latching mechanism can additionally include a driver and/or a latch.
A particularly tamper-proof kind of such padlocks is represented by so-called ring hoop padlocks in which the hoop has the form of an open ring and is rotatably supported at the lock body around an actuation axis of the latching mechanism (in particular the axis of rotation of the lock cylinder). Such a ring hoop padlock is known from EP 0 872 615 B1 whose content is included in the disclosure content of the present application, in particular with respect to the structure and the general operation of such a ring hoop padlock, even if the lock cylinder of the padlock in accordance with the invention is not necessarily replaceable, as is described in EP 0 872 615 B1.
It is known for a padlock of the explained kind to provide a front plate and a rear plate within the outer housing which are connected to one another to form a rigid arrangement via a plurality of riveted on pins, said arrangement in turn being welded to the outer housing at a plurality of points. This rigid arrangement allows the fastening of the further components of the padlock, in particular of the latching mechanism. The assembly of such a padlock is, however, undesirably complex and/or expensive.
It is an object of the invention to simplify the manufacture of a padlock of the explained kind.
This object is satisfied by a padlock including a lock body that has an inner housing which is formed by a front insertion part and a rear insertion part which are inserted into the outer housing in shape matched manner and which accept the latching mechanism in at least partly shape matched manner, with the front insertion part and/or the rear insertion part forming a respective unitary, three-dimensionally structured part.
The lock body of the padlock in accordance with the invention has an inner housing which is formed by a front insertion part and a rear insertion part. The front insertion part or the rear insertion part is made as a unitary, three-dimensionally structured part. These two parts are preferably each three-dimensionally structured. This means that the front insertion part or the rear insertion part is not only structured along its plane of extent with respect to its outline (for example in the form of a metal plate having a specific contour in an x direction and a y direction). The front insertion part or the rear insertion part rather also has a structure, i.e. a varying outline, along its thickness (z direction). The front insertion part or the rear insertion part is thus not a purely plate-like structure, but rather a three-dimensional body. The front insertion part or the rear insertion part is in this respect each made in one piece. This is possible in a simple manner in a technical production respect, for example, in that the front insertion part or the rear insertion part forms a casting part—in particular an injection molded part. An embodiment as a zinc die casting is particularly advantageous, for example. An embodiment of plastic is, however, also possible.
The front insertion part and the rear insertion part, which together form the named inner housing, are inserted into the outer housing of the lock body in shape matched manner. The inner space of the outer housing is hereby substantially filled up by a three-dimensionally structured inner housing—to the extent that it is not take up by the hoop and the latching mechanism and is also not needed for the respective movement path of the moving parts of the lock. The latching mechanism of the lock is inserted into this inner housing—that is into the front insertion part and the rear insertion part, with the front insertion part and the rear insertion part surrounding the latching mechanism in partly or even fully shape matched manner. The latching mechanism is hereby fixed in a precise location in the lock body as soon as the outer housing is also finally installed.
The inner housing is—as explained—in two parts. It is hereby possible to insert the respective parts of the latching mechanism and optionally of the hoop into the inner housing. The two parts of the inner housing (front insertion part and rear insertion part), the latching mechanism and in particular also the hoop thus form a pre-installable unit, with the individual components of this unit not necessarily having to be permanently fastened to one another. The final fixing of the different components of the named unit relative to one another can rather only take place by the final installation of the outer housing, for example by welding a front shell and a rear shell of the outer housing to one another, i.e. the components of the named pre-installable unit are captured in shape matched manner in the outer housing by the final installation of the outer housing.
An advantageously simple manufacture of the padlock hereby results. Fewer fastening steps are in particular necessary. For example, no connection pins have to be riveted to fix individual plates of the inner housing to one another. It is also not necessary to weld different parts of the inner housing and of the outer housing to one another or to fix them to one another non-releasably in another manner. Due to the three-dimensionally structured design of the inner housing, it is namely possible to realize a reliable shape matching between the inner housing and the latching mechanism and also between the inner housing and the outer housing so that a clearance-free fit is also achieved without welding or other fastening measures. A self-centering of the inner housing can even be achieved by corresponding mold inclinations so that ultimately a higher fit precision is achieved than with a permanent connection between the inner housing and the outer housing (for example by welding) which does not allow any subsequent correction of the relevant positions.
An even higher tamper-proofing can also be achieved by the three-dimensionally structured inner housing since the latching mechanism cannot only be surrounded by the outer housing, but rather also practically at all sides by the inner housing.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment, the front insertion part has at least one rear side section and the rear insertion part has at least one front side section, said sections contacting one another areally. The inner housing—despite the two-part embodiment—hereby has a particularly stable structure even if the front insertion part and the rear insertion part are not permanently connected to one another (for example by riveting or by welding). The handling of the front insertion part and of the rear insertion part is hereby also simplified on the manufacture of the lock and in particular on formation of a pre-installed assembly which also already includes the latching mechanism.
It is also particularly advantageous with respect to the installation of the padlock if the front insertion part and the rear insertion part are connected to one another in shape matched manner. Pre-installation steps can namely hereby be carried out without it being necessary to connect the front insertion part and the rear insertion part non-releasably to one another by additional measures (e.g. by riveting or welding). A shape matching of the two named parts of the inner housing is also of advantage with respect to a possible attempt to break open since a displacement of the front insertion part and of the rear insertion part relative to one another is prevented.
Such a shape match between the front insertion part and the rear insertion part can be realized in a particularly simple and effective manner if the front insertion part has at least one rear engagement projection which engages into a front-side engagement mount of the rear insertion part. A cam which engages into a recess of the rear insertion part made in complementary manner can, for example, be formed at the front insertion part.
Alternatively or additionally, the rear insertion part can have at least one front-side engagement projection which engages into a rear-side engagement mount of the front insertion part in order hereby to establish the explained shape matching between the front insertion part and the rear insertion part.
It is furthermore preferred if the front insertion part and the rear insertion part are inserted loosely into the outer housing. As already explained above, no additional installation steps are thus necessary to fix the inner housing relative to the outer housing.
To ensure a fit of the inner housing in the outer housing which is as free of clearance as possible, it is preferred if the outer housing has a front wall section (e.g. front shell) and a rear wall section (e.g. back shell), with the front insertion part and the rear insertion part together having a thickness which corresponds to the clear spacing between the front wall section and the rear wall section of the outer housing.
To achieve a clearance-free fit of the inner housing in the outer housing without additional fastening measures, it is furthermore of advantage if the named front wall section of the outer housing has a recess into which the front insertion part engages in shape matched manner and if the named rear wall section of the outer housing has a recess into which the rear insertion part engages in shape matched manner. The inner housing can hereby be fixed in a lateral direction relative to the outer housing, with simultaneously a centering being able to be achieved if suitable centering chamfers are formed at the named recesses.
In accordance with an advantageous embodiment, the named inner housing that is the front insertion part together with the rear insertion part—form a guide passage for the movable hoop of the padlock. The inner housing can alternatively also form such a guide passage together with the outer housing. In both cases, a smooth and clearance-free movement of the hoop is achieved in a simple manner. Since the inner housing is—as explained—composed of two parts, the inner housing can surround the hoop along a relatively large peripheral region of the hoop cross-section so that an areal contact is ensured between the inner housing and the hoop, whereby the movement of the hoop can be guided particularly easily.
The latching mechanism of the padlock can have a lock cylinder. It is particularly advantageous if this lock cylinder is surrounded partly or completely peripherally by the front insertion part and/or by the rear insertion part of the inner housing. The lock cylinder is hereby fixed rotationally fixedly and is simultaneously protected with respect to manipulation attempts from the side.
The invention will be explained in more detail in the following with reference to the drawings and to an embodiment. This embodiment relates to a ring hoop padlock in which the invention provides to be particularly advantageous, in particular with respect to a simple installation. The invention, however, also relates to other kinds of padlocks, for example to padlocks with a substantially U-shaped hoop which is linearly movable, pivotable or rotatable.